Mailbag: Is The Late Bye Week A Major Advantage This Year?

STEVEN CRAIGLAS VEGAS, NVLooks like a much later bye week than in the past few years. What do you think about a later one and its placement this year? Advantage Cowboys.?

Bryan: I personally think it’s a great advantage for the club. It just seemed like in year's past that it was always around the fifth week of the season which really doesn't help you at all regroup. The later bye can help manage the injuries better but it can also refocus the team. It’s also nice because it comes after a Sunday night game in New Orleans and before another road trip to New York to face the Giants. By breaking those two games up, it gives the club a better chance in preparation as well.

Rowan: Absolute advantage Cowboys. The 12 straight games without a break took its toll on an already decimated Cowboys group last year. Most of the injuries a team faces hit past the midway point of the season. A break late in the year gives the team a good chance to regroup and prepare for the final stretch. It’s a great place to get some rest for a playoff push that’s evaded the group the last few years.

GARY HERODDALLAS, TX

We seem to have an abundance of talented WR's now, and you guys have talked about some, such as Armstrong, and Beasley. Because of injury, we have yet to see Danny Coale. What do you think will happen with him?

Bryan: This is just the personnel guy in me coming out but I might try and find another way to stash him for the first six weeks of the season. If he were to start camp on the Physically Unable to Perform list and you kept him that way when you open the season, he would miss the first six weeks and see where that puts you health wise at that point with your receivers to make a decision. As of now, he will practice but not likely to make your team, then you would release him and maybe lose him. He can go on the practice squad but don't know if I take that chance.

Rowan:He looks like he’s actually ahead of schedule compared to where most people are after ACL surgery. Coale got

the surgery in December 2012 and was at least running routes and participating in certain drills with the team during minicamp and offseason workouts. He wasn’t 100 percent, but has targeted training camp as the time he’d like to be back. It may take some time for him to get where he was before the injury, but if he can get healthy quickly and take on contact, the Cowboys will give him a long look and do what they can to keep him around as long as possible. If he’s not where he needs to be, as Bryan stated, he could be a PUP candidate.